by Adam
I have been thinking a lot lately about how to create something awesome. My new job at the fabulous Woodlawn UMC in Derby, KS has pushed me to think outside the box and “rethink church”. But leadership for creating something awesome requires incredible balance of a myriad of factors. Just after the Winter Olympics one professor likened it to speed skating. She watched the short track race and noticed that being fastest and strongest did not mean you would win the race. What really mattered was negotiating the crowded track so that you were well positioned at the moment of greatest opportunity. Often this positioning seems mysterious and out of our control, but I believe that a well thought out strategy could help us get there…. [Read more →]
by Adam
A call to Love God and Love Neighbor
The word “diakonia” is one of the catchy words we throw around at seminary a lot. First of all, it is Greek, so it makes us think we sound smart (seminary people love to be pompous). Second,diakonia is translated asDeacon, a leadership role that many denominations have as a part of their church structure…in the United Methodist Church, it is an ordination order, the one I am called into. Finally, and most importantly, we us the word to describe the ways in which the church does service.
The word Diakonia means service. Not lowly, powerless, oppressive servanthood. But the kind of servanthood that recognizes the need for compassion, justice and lived out love in the world. The kind of service where the powerful and powerless work towards equity in relationship and resources. Sounds good, right? [Read more →]
by Ashley
Adam and I are celebrating our 1st Christmas as a married couple a day before the holiday festivities begin at our churches and families’ homes… by starting some new traditions.
Together, we are going to make our own nativity, one piece at a time… this year is baby Jesus.
We are also going to begin a holiday tradition of family talent shows thanks to a comment by one of our favorite educators, Dr. Brooke Lester.
This morning, as we sat down to think of our newly created Barlow-Thompson traditions, I turned on the boob-tube. Alas, one of my favorite re-runs was on: Roseanne. Indeed, I was sucked in. So much so that the all-day Roseanne marathon remained on all morning as we relaxed, played with the dog and devised our special 1st Christmas extravaganza together…. [Read more →]
by Adam
This Thanksgiving Ashley and I spent time with her grandmother Elaine who is battling alzheimers. This is the first time I have ever been close a person dealing with alzheimers, and I am learning a lot about the end of life and aging. On Thanksgiving day Elaine came to Ashley’s Dad’s and spent the day with us. She struggled to remember where she lived, where she was, what we were doing, and how she would get home at the end of the day. Her anxietywould sometimes bring her to tears, and as it got darker outside it only became worse. Ashley’s dad Buz took her home before it got too dark and we told her we would see her the next day. When we arrived at her Memory Care Facility the next day we had to tell her about sitting on the couch with us as we ate appetizers and watched the Packers game, and how we ate a Thanksgiving meal, and sang Christmas carols. As we got up to leave she said, “Buz, don’t leave me, I need you.” It was a heart breaker. But at this point in her disease it is nothing her caretakers have not heard before…. [Read more →]
by Adam
The Revelation of John is written to a place in history where believers were being persecuted and suffering was all around. It is assumed that the writer of this text is performing a very important pastoral duty orientating the persecuted and suffering people toward the hope of Jesus Christ. And I imagine that part of the hope was that God’s triumph would come in the form retributive justice; holding the oppressors responsible for their actions. What makes this interesting for me, is that, if I draw the meaning of this scripture, in the framework of our own context, than more often than not, I would be the oppressor. I am a person of privilege. I am white, I am male, I am heterosexual, I am able bodied, able-mind, and have generations of financial stability to lean on. The social structure of my time floods my door with more resources than I can use, and no matter how bad I feel about my privilege, no matter how much I try to transcend it, the system isn’t going to stop benefiting me for reasons that I am not responsible for. I bring my privilege to this scripture, and the message I hear is a call for reorientation, a call for willing priestly servants.
The Revelation of John reminds us to be orientated towards God, even amidst suffering, even if we have caused the suffering. For the oppressors, this orientation causes us to recognize a new king, who transcends privilege by offering freedom from sin to ALL people. And out of that unity God calls us to service in creating a new kingdom. God has prepared this kingdom for all believers, and with it comes both the joy and the responsibility of serving as God’s priests. In these acts God does that incredible thing of reconciliation. Bringing privileged and oppressed to the same table and offering us communion with each other and with God’s self.
This type of reorientation takes more than a lifetime to perfect, and often is slow work done through the soft movement of the Spirit. But there are times when the brokenness and persecution of our society is clear, and the opportunity for orientation is abundantly available. I recently experienced a situation like this on the rails of Chicago’s public transit, where all things are possible. A friend, my wife, and I entered a train on the way home from a dinner party, and it was clear that something was up. We, unfortunately, timed our travel with the end of a Cubs game and the cars were packed with fans; some were drunk, and most were restless due to another disappointing Cubs season. The crowded car was made more volatile by a woman who was screaming obscenities into her cell phone. The people in the trained egged her on, and yelled out their own foul language adding to the tension. Soon it was clear the woman wasn’t really on her phone; she was screaming, swearing, and arguing with people who were only present in her own mind. While I am not a doctor, I assume she was having something similar to a schizophrenic break. Even though it was becoming clear that the woman was dealing with mental illness; the crowd mentality was set, and the behavior of the people around us grew worse.
We were amidst the persecution just as the churches in Revelation. And although we were not saying anything derogatory to the woman; our privilege anchored us with the side of the persecutors. We felt bad for her, I felt the familiar guilt which comes from privilege, and I wanted for it to stop; but no matter how much I sympathized; she was the oppressed and I was not. She was searching for hope, searching to make it out of this ill-deserved persecution; while my hope was secure, because I had the ability to blend in, to get off at my stop, and to go about my way.
The crowd continued to mock her, and seemed in agreement that her new name was crazy “lady”, and by “lady” I mean the offensive swear word of your choice. And as her suffering grew the potential for reorientation became powerfully clear. As an oppressor I could have used my privilege to call my peers under a new kingship. Under Christ’s kingdom we could not deny the humanness or this woman’s suffering. We could have joined together, and helped her receive the medical attention she needed. Once healthy we could have brought her out of the isolation she experienced as the oppressed and dealt with our own ignorance and guardedness; which kept us from seeing her as one of the beloved. We could have joined in priestly service, but we passed it up. We needed reorientation.
Later that evening my wife looked at me and asked, “Where was Christ on that train?” If I take the text from Revelation seriously, it seems that Christ was in the suffering of the woman. No doubt the Spirit was also desperate to take form in a priestly servant, but no one was willing. Many of us on the train probably wished it had gone differently, because we all left isolated. But hopefully the lesson was learned, at least by me, and in the next moment when reorientation is knocking at my door, I pray that I will work to fulfill God’s kingdom by becoming a priestly servant. By bringing about justice and reconciliation through Jesus Christ, whose faithful witness and love for us frees us from our sins, AND gives us another chance. Because of my privilege, I am often going to find myself on the side of the persecutor, but my hope is that I will become a willing servant and with the power of Christ a new kingdom will take form. May it be so in my heart and may it be so in yours.
This is a sermon that I used in class. To much going on to write a real blog post, but I think you’ll like this. Let me know what you think.
The scripture is Revelation 1:5-6
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
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by Adam
Yesterday, I watched my favorite football team the Kansas State Wildcats win the Sunflower Showdown and beat their rival the Kansas Jayhawks. However, as of late, whenever I watch football I am overwhelmed by how often high level sports are outright sexist…….. [Read more →]
